02/15/12: Black Flag - The Complete 1982 Demos (1984)

02/15/12: Black Flag - The Complete 1982 Demos (1984)

1. What Can You Believe
2. Yes, I Know
3. Slip It In
4. Modern Man
5. My War
6. Black Coffee
7. Beat My Head Against The Wall
8. Can't Decide
9. I Love You
10. Nothing Left Inside / Scream
11. I Love You*
12. My War*
13. Interview*
14. Swinging Man*

     Here comes more of my recently learned Black Flag history. I have been reviewing some of their full lengths, but I had always wanted to check this out. There should only be 1 or 2 more Black Flag releases to go through after this.
     I had always wondered about why their releases came out the way they did. They released "Damaged" in 1981, then they didnt release anything again until 1984 where they released 5 albums throughout '84 and '85. It ends up they were stuck in a lawsuit with their original record label and could not release any music under the name Black Flag until the suit was resolved. They went around that by first releasing a compilation titled "Everything Went Black" under each individual band members names instead of Black Flag.
     During 1982, they recorded a large batch of Demos that would eventually make up the albums "My War" and "Slip It In" (My favorite 2). I don't know how they are circulated now, but it is a widely distributed bootleg and not an official release by them. The 14 Tracks include mostly songs from the previously mentioned 2 albums as well as 2 completely unreleased songs and a live radio performance and interview.
     I had been avoiding these demos basically because i assumed the production quality would be awful. I was definitely proven wrong there. The recordings are actually really nice for Demos recorded in 1982. It really was a collection of many of my favorite Black Flag songs and there were actually a couple versions on these demos that I prefered to the official releases. The 2 unreleased tracks were solid as well seeing that they were from my favorite period of their careers. And Finally the radio session is a really nice bonus. The 3 songs they chose are great. Hank and the band kill it. The recordings are really nice here as well. And to top that all off there is an 8 minute interview with the guys from right after the lawsuit was over and they were able to release My War after over 2 years without ny releases.
     This Bootleg ended up being a must-listen for any Black Flag fan. Great collection. (046)

02/13/12: Black Flag - Loose Nut (1985)

02/13/12: Black Flag - Loose Nut (1985)

 

1. Loose Nut
2. Bastard in Love
3. Annihilate this Week
4. Best One Yet
5. Modern Man
6. This Is Good
7. I'm The One
8. Sinking
9. Now She's Black

     Apparently I am working backwards on this whole Black Flag thing. This is the album from before "In My Head" it was also released in 1985. I mentioned that Black Flag had a hard time maintaining an audience due to the fact of their ever changing style. I guess at one point Hank Rollins suggested not changing their style as much from album to album for that exact reason. After listening to "Loose Nut" I would say that the closest they got to maintaining a sound was in between "Loose Nut" and "In My Head". There is a much more present heavy metal sound than on earlier releases but it also has songs that sound more straightforward punk than on "In My Head". The album was alright but it definitely didn't blow me away. It lost my attention at times. It is probably near the bottom of the Black Flag albums I've listened to but it still had a couple solid tracks. (044)

02/11/12: Black Flag - In My Head (1985)

 02/11/12: Black Flag - In My Head (1985)

1. Paralyzed
2. The Crazy Girl
3. Black Love
4. White Hot
5. In My Head
6. Out of This World *
7. I Can See You *
8. Drinking and Driving
9. Retired at 21
10. Society's Tease
11. It's All Up to You
12. You Let Me Down *

*Tracks originally from the "I Can See You" EP

     Black Flag is probably my favorite of the old school punk bands. I say this despite the fact that they  have only released one LP that actually sounds like a punk record (Damaged). There are a few Black Flag albums that I used to listen to constantly, but I realized that I had barely given some of the others a chance. I have been listening to them non-stop and there are gonna be 3 or 4 Black Flag records over the next week of entries or so. I am going to jump all over the place, but I will start with their last LP "In My Head".
     This is the CD reissue version which includes 3 tracks from an EP they released 3 years after they broke up. The songs were recorded during the same sessions and are integrated into this reissue perfectly as well as being really great songs. I don't understand why I never really gave this album a chance but it ended up being spectacular. "In My Head" shows where their sound ended up before their breakup. They started out as a punk band, but as their career progressed, their songs slowed down and became more heavily metal influenced due to Greg Ginn's ever evolving guitar sound and growing talent. They had a hard time maintaining fans for the same reason but I really enjoy their more down tempo sound anyways. It is a straight-up quality hardcore record with a nice experimental touch. A really solid collection of songs to close out a too short career.
     I have been doing a lot of reading about Black Flag over the last couple days and I really didn't realize a lot of things about their career. I will probably talk about some of the facts in other posts. I can't believe they released 5 albums in 2 years. (042)